Watch Out for Phone Scam Impersonating Sheriff

A new round of scam phone calls has gone out in Prince George’s County, say officials, and this one claims that the caller is the sheriff seeking payment of a fine.

Previous scam calls have claimed to be from the sheriff’s office with a message that the resident owes money to the IRS or has outstanding warrants that can be resolved if the person pays. The office never asks residents to take such an action, the sheriff said.

In the most recent scam reported, the caller claimed to be Chief Assistant Sheriff Darrin Palmer calling to notify the resident they had to pay a fine to avoid further action. These calls can appear to be coming from a local number or a 1-800- number, officials said, but may be from out of state or even out of the country.

“We will continue to notify citizens and residents each time we get these calls,” said Palmer. “There are simply no circumstances in which the sheriff or any law enforcement agency would make calls demanding payment, period. We’re telling residents that they should never give, wire or mail funds to anyone who calls saying anything like this. These are predators, and their actions are pure and simple scams,” he said.

Any resident who receives such a call can contact the Prince George’s County Police at 301-772-4420 to file an incident report.